In today’s video we have a review of Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, the short stories Packing by T. Kingfisher and Children of Thorns, Children of Water by Aliette De Bodard, an Uncanny 17 review, and the comics Detective Comics 961 by James Tynion IV with art by Alvaro Martinez, Raul Fernandez, and Brad Anderson and Secret Empire #7 by Nick Spencer with art by Andrea Sorrentino, Rod Reis, and Joshua Cassar, Rachelle Rosenberg.

I am #1-2 towards my 200 short story reading goal for the fall. Neither short story today was really anything amazing to me.

“The Worshipful Society of Glovers” by Mary Robinette Kowal
“I Built This City For You” by Cassandra Khaw
“The Ache of Home” by Maurice Broaddus
“A Nest of Ghosts, a House of Birds” by Kat Howard
“How the Maine Coon Cat Learned to Love the Sea” by Seanan McGuire
“Children of Thorns, Children of Water” by Aliette de Bodard
“Packing by” T. Kingfisher

Overall I really liked this issue. I thought the interview with Alyssa Wong was great and the poetry was better than other issues. A lot of these stories had a horror or unsettling vibe which I loved.
Here are my ratings for the stories:

4 StarsYou’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay by Alyssa Wong – I really enjoyed the relationship between Marisol and Ellis in this short story. Their relationship was complicated in a good way that allowed them to be extremely close friends. I thought the magic in the story was highly imaginable.Ye Highlands and Ye Lowlands by Seanan McGuire – I thought this would make an excellent movie if it was expanded some. I think it gave me an Arrival feel because it had to do with linguistics.The Drowning Line by Haralambi Markov – I am definitely feeling the eerie feeling that this issue has done and this short really built upon that feeling

3 StarsThe Plague Gives by Kameron Hurley – I enjoyed this Hurley story quite a bit but it was missing something. I felt like it was very similar to a quest line in a video game. It was good, just didn’t blow me away.

2 StarsThe Sound of Salt and Sea by Kat Howard – I just didn’t connect to this story much.

1 StarThe Blood That Pulses in the Veins of One by JY Yang – I DNF’d this story due to the cannibalism elements.